The FOUR year old!

Ella

September 29th
Lincoln Square

Yes, it's true that on September 29th Miss Gabriella Marguerite turned four years old. I can hardly believe we've had her for four years. So much has happened and she has grown from our baby girl so fast into our little girl. Stop growing! I keep telling her as a joke, but sometimes I wish we could make time stand still and savor the special moments like holding your newborn for the first time and feeling the strongest instant bond.....spending long hours ummm "peacefully" discussing what her name should be.......finally naming her....... being thrilled when she rolled over, crawled, walked and said Mama as her first word (of course)........ wondering on her 2nd birthday if I would ever get to "fix" her hair in ponytails, pigtails, braids, etc. and then slowly seeing her bald head finally turn into beautiful long golden curls through four years of time..... sighing a big sigh of relief when she finally learned how to jump (seriously I once googled: "age 3 + can't jump")..... being amazed at how her long legs continue to grow and how graceful they can be in third position during ballet class..... loving her beautiful buck tooth smile and being ever so thankful we just acquired dental insurance that includes orthodontia.....wondering how on earth this innocent, sweet child has turned out so beautiful, smart, sweet, considerate, kind, caring, observant and so creative and fun by spending her days with you.....and watching her cherish and love on her baby brother like she needs nobody else in this world.....and then realizing that you can't stop time so you try to soak it all in because you know how quickly another four years will pass........

Reprise of the cake on the real birthday

This little girl loves her Papa

The infamous"If you take a mouse to school" lunchbox cake
And I thought Ella the Elephant was hard last year! (I have more pictures if you want to see them just let me know :-)

Doing the Hokey Pokey with her friends

Ella requested the events of the day: Lunch of PBJ, go see the play "If you take a mouse to school", face painting by Mama, eat cake, do the Hokey Pokey"

My favorite two faces

Ella by "Mouse"

Posing for a picture in the courtyard:
Ryan, Ella, Braden, Asha
Nicholas

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Marion have been at all four of Ella's birthday party's!
This was in the lobby of the Apollo Theatre where we saw the Emerald City Theatre production of
"If you take a mouse to school".

My little dress-up girl

As promised

Here are some new pictures to make you want to come and visit us....

Nicholas 5 weeks, Gabriella 3 1/2 years:

Imitating Mama

Papa for my pillow

Love the dimple and the thigh rolls!

Nicholas 6 weeks, Gabriella 3 1/2 years:

Nikky's new toy that big sister Ella loves

Look at my fat tummy in the bathtub!

Hangin' with Papa

My little tea lover

"Lady Godova"
As opposed to "Lady Godiva"... Ella created
this alternate similar name for when she
rides her horse WITH clothes on. We call her
Lady Godiva because she LOVES to ride
her horse naked at night when she's getting
ready for bed. So this photo qualifies as
Godova, not Godiva since she has
her panties on.......my crazy girl!

Family of 3

Yesterday was our last day to celebrate our family of three. (Nana arrives today). Rather than wanting time alone like originally I thought I might, I really wanted to do something special with Ella. So yesterday afternoon I surprised her with a mother/daughter manicure-pedicure. This is not something I treat myself to very often--but the last time I did, she was there for part of it and they painted her nails for her--she thought it was the greatest thing. So yesterday afternoon when I told her where we were going she was thrilled! This time she got to sit up on a big cushy chair of her own and they filed her fingers and toes and painted them while I got my pedicure and manicure. She loved every minute of it, as did I.

Then we met David and rode the train to a special dinner of her choice which of course took us to Cozy Noodles or "Paroon's restaurant" as she often calls it. It's a bit surreal to think it was our last night at a restaurant as a family of three. We enjoyed most every minute, knowing our next family outing would entail an infant too!

Ice Skating

Ella had her first ice skating adventure on Saturday. Obviously, I could only spectate--but David had a great time pushing her around the ice (though he woke up a bit sore on Sunday). We weren't sure how she would react, and set no expectations for her in talking about it ahead of time. Periodically she kept saying--look! they're skating just like Angelina! She absolutely loved it! It was a gorgeous day with nice warm temps in the low 30's.

Of course it was helpful that Tori was there too. The Hudson's came to town for the weekend to visit and celebrate Tori's birthday. I can't believe she's 5 years old now--I remember going to the hospital the night she was born! Anyhow, now being the resident Minnesotans, Jeff, Cheryl and Tori all had their own skates--and Tori's even been taking lessons. We had a great visit--baby Jin is growing so fast and walking all over the place. We're always sad that it's just a visit now though.

Anyhow--while there in Millennium Park, we also took in the Museum of Modern Ice and of course had to walk under the "bean". Enjoy the photos!

Getting laced up

Ready to go--waiting for Papa to lace up

Patiently waiting for the Zamboni to finish clearing the ice.

First steps onto the ice!

Tori arrives-and I suddenly remember the article I just
read about kids wearing helmets while ice-skating...next time
we'll remember.

The Minnesotan's take to the ice

Cheryl & Tori

Tori & Jeff

Cheryl & Tori, David & Ella

Jin just woke up and is watching everyone

David & Ella

David & Ella

Ella in front of one of the ice art sculptures

The Bean--see if you can see all three of us!

since Christmas....

At the park in January spring

we've been fairly busy. We enjoyed "spring" in early January, forgetting the reality of Chicago winter for a few days (for example it's -3 right now). Ella began her Twinkle Stars gymnastics class and loves to do her front rolls, hang/swing like a monkey on the bars and say "Tada". She's been helping me bake alot, painting alot, and whining and acting like a baby alot. We think she's experiencing the ''big sister" syndrome early......it's lovely.



Cousin Josh stayed with us for a few days while he did some job-shadowing here in the city that David set-up for him. We took him out for Thai food one night and he rode the train and the bus by himself just fine! See Aunt Sue, you can do it too! Come visit us! We won't even make you take the train or bus by yourself!



Also, we finally found Gabriella's electronic 18 week ultrasound picture (the hard copies are packed away in storage) to compare with this baby. Look at how strikingly similar their profiles are!

Gabriella:

"Our baby" (As Ella so sweetly calls it):

photo coming soon--can't get it to work right now......

We also just saw our friends the Hanson's this past weekend and had a great time. David said he will blog about it (let's not all hold our breath now, but we'll see)...